Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-03-23
The head of the Cabinet’s anti-money laundering office, Tsai Pi-chung, says Taiwan will
Tsai Pi-chung
Head of the Cabinet’s anti-money laundering office, Tsai Pi-chung. (CNA)
face sanctions if it cannot crack down on money laundering.
In an interview Thursday, Tsai said Taiwan’s adoption of an anti-money laundering law earned it good marks in 2001 when the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering held its first round of member evaluations.
However, Tsai said that Taiwan has since fallen behind. The group’s second round of evaluations in 2007 found Taiwan’s financial institutions had failed to effectively implement policies to prevent money laundering. Meanwhile, evaluators found that the country’s law enforcement lacked the ability to investigate cash flows. After this second evaluation, Taiwan was put on a watch list.
Tsai said the government believes these findings show poor enforcement of the law. He said the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering could place sanctions on Taiwan if the situation does not improve before the third round of evaluations next year.
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